DISTURBED Drummer: 'We're Very Hands-On And We've Always Been Hands-On'

Sweden's Metalshrine recently conducted an interview with drummer Mike Wengren and bassist John Moyer of the Chicago heavy rock band DISTURBED. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Metalshrine: Is the U.S. your biggest market?

Mike: Yes, as far as record sales the U.S. has been our biggest market. We've sold 9, almost 10 million just in the States alone. All over we've done really well also, like in New Zealand and Australia, record-sales-wise. Canada and Europe is getting there. It's nice to have the success in the States, primarily because we're from there, but also knowing what a fickle market it is, and how heavy music doesn't really have as prominent a position as it seems to have when we come overseas.

John: It seems like there are a lot more bands out here that are accepted, that can tour around and there's like more places to play in Europe and even when we were in Australia, it just seemed that there was a lot more acceptance to heavy music than there is in the States, so I think we feel very fortunate to be one of those few accepted bands that has success there.

Metalshrine: A lot of artists I've talked to, and considering downloading and selling less albums, they say that now the focus is on the live show and to find other ways to make money.

Mike: Well, I don't think record sales have never been, at least for bands in this genre, hasn't been the biggest source of income. The biggest income for the bands has always been touring and merchandise and stuff like that. For us, it's always to get the music out there, but like I said, I think it just comes back to the artist. You have to, you know, put out good music and I think that maybe some bands who complain about it are just being called out because maybe their records weren't that great.

Metalshrine: What's the difference when it comes to producing yourselves or having an outside producer? Is there a major difference?

John: I think it wasn't as big a difference as it could be in certain circumstances. The reason is that all the records that the band has done have all been done at the same studio, Groove studio in Chicago. Even initially with the band's demos. You know, after doing demos and three records and all with the same producer and using a lot of the same equipment and we've always been the type of band that before we even go into the studio, we demo the songs out. We have a really solid idea of what we're going to sound like and even with working with a producer, a lot of times our initial visions don't change. It sounds better sonically speaking, but a lot of times the core of the song, the arrangements and ideas don't really get tampered with that much from point A to point Z. So having done that on three previous records and also the demos, that gave the band and especially Dan [Donegan, guitar], who took the most of the duties of producing, confidence to go into a familiar environment, process the same way we've always done it, only this time around to be in charge of it ourselves to have the final say. Knowing the way we already work and having the confidence to go in there and do it, it was different but it wasn't different because nothing changed in our process. There was just one less person in the room.

Mike: Instead of having an outside opinion to bounce stuff off, we pulled from the friendship we have. Years and years of experience playing together and knowing each other better than anyone knows us. Instead of having to turn to someone outside the circle, we turned within the circle and personally we all feel that we came up with the best material. When one guy was stuck on something, the guys who know him the most, we inspired that person to get him out of that and we were able to create some of the best material to date.

Metalshrine: Another thing when it comes to where you're at now, does it tend to be more business than just playing? Are you involved in everything around the band or do you just leave that to the accountants, the lawyers and so on?

Mike: We're very hands-on and we've always been hands-on. We're not the kind of guys... we're somewhat control freaks and we've never been the kind of guys that just leave it to someone else's hands. We have people, obviously, that we hire to do certain jobs, but we oversee all aspects of the business, so to speak. We're very concerned with the way a t-shirt looks and so on. Every bit of energy we put into the music is obviously number one and the live show as well, but every other aspect of it is very important to us too. The way our fans percieve us on the Internet, on the websites, the merchandise, everything.

John: You mentioned how like now, selling millions of records and has that changed? Actually that's how it always has been. The band was like that in the beginning and you know, selling records just put it on a bigger level. It doesn't really change the way that we look at how we do our daily business.

Read the entire interview from Metalshrine.